


My Finger's on the Trigger

by unveiled



Series: Snippets [9]
Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Assassins & Hitmen, Alternate Universe - Still Have Powers, Canon-Typical Violence, Coerced Surgical Procedure, M/M, Prostitution
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-23
Updated: 2012-08-23
Packaged: 2017-11-12 16:52:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/493535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unveiled/pseuds/unveiled
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prequel to <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/377491">My Love's a Revolver</a>: how they first met.</p>
            </blockquote>





	My Finger's on the Trigger

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted [on Tumblr](http://thoughtsnotunveiled.tumblr.com/post/20695105509/a-bit-of-scribbling-set-in-the-same-universe-as).

"Care to buy me a drink?"

Erik twisted around on his stool — slowly. Cheap vodka on an empty stomach was a bad idea, but if he hadn't given a fuck an hour ago when he staggered into the bar, he sure as hell wouldn't give a fuck now. And who the hell was this idiot?

It was the boy's eyes that penetrated the fog of self-pity and booze first: blue and beautiful and filled with secrets. Erik took in the seductive shape of his mouth, ever so suggestively red; the tight black shirt opened at the collar, exposing his clavicles. His gaze dragged down to the boy's hips, tilted in an inviting curve, and up again to an amused, knowing smile.

There was an implant in his neck, metal weaving through something organic, a dark spot amid the flow of his iron-rich blood. Erik's interest evaporated. A telepath, then. A political casualty of the Rebellion he'd given most of his life to, only to see his dream curdle. And if the telepath was here, without the mark of the Order on him, then...

"Find someone else, kid," Erik said, not unkindly. "I spent the last of my money on this shitty drink. I can't afford you, unless you take bullets as payment."

"That's fine," said the telepath, leaning into Erik. "I need just four."

***

He said his name was Charles. Ridiculous, Erik had complained in response, to be giving away the truth so freely. Charles had laughed, and said, "Take me home, darling, and I'll show you how  _ridiculous_ I can be."

Charles was a revelation of pale skin and freckles on Erik's rumpled sheets. His shoulders and face filled Erik's vision as he moved on top of Erik, and moved, tight and shuddering and real. Erik touched the corners of his eyes and kissed the web of skin between thumb and forefinger, as he would a lover, and let himself be seduced by this pretend-dance of intimacy.

"You're beautiful," Charles murmured into his ear.

Erik shivered and pulled away. "I'm a mercenary. A failed idealist."

"The implant didn't take away everything. I can still tell." Faith rang true and deep in Charles's voice when he said, "There's so much more to you than you know."

***

Erik watched Charles in the weak, watery light of the morning, sitting cross-legged on his bed. Four bullets were laid out before him, gleaming faintly against the white sheets. Erik was fiercely curious, suddenly, but uncertainty held his tongue against the question in his mind.

"I'm going to kill four men. Not now, perhaps not even very soon, but I will," Charles said. He picked up one of the bullets, held it in his palm. "Nathaniel Essex." A second bullet. "Kurt Marko." Another. "Cain Marko." 

He fingered the last bullet, but didn't name the fourth would-be kill. Grief and anger chased each other in his face, the emotions settling into a flat, icy stare.

Walk away now, Erik thought to himself. Tell Charles to leave, then skip town forever. But what he ended up doing, instead, was to curl his fingers around Charles's wrist, thumb on his pulse, and say, "You won't kill anyone if you don't know how to  _shoot_."

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Trigger (Master of Puppets Remix)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2074239) by [a_q](https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_q/pseuds/a_q)




End file.
